If Kapuskasing Paper shutters its operation within the next two weeks, more than 2,500 jobs across the Northwestern Ontario forestry sector could be lost.
Sawmills in Kapuskasing, Hearst, Chapleau and Cochrane, which rely on chips and bark from the paper mill, would face cascading shutdowns.
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) have sent an urgent message to the federal government to take immediate funding action to safeguard Northern Ontario’s forestry sector.
As part of the national Build Canada Homes initiative, Canada has committed to doubling housing construction, which is dependent on a stable supply of Canadian lumber.
“At the heart of Canada’s housing plan is wood, and that wood comes from Northern Ontario,” Danny Whalen, the president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, told The Chronicle-Journal.
“The Kapuskasing Paper facility is the linchpin in an integrated system that keeps sawmills across the region operating. If Ottawa doesn’t step in now, those sawmills will close, jobs will vanish, and the very foundation of the housing plan will crumble.”
He added that they are ready to work with the federal government on solutions, but the clock is ticking.
“We are talking about days, not months,” he said.
Rick Dumas, president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, said this is bigger than one mill — it’s about safeguarding a national supply chain.
“It’s no different than what’s happened when (the mill in) Terrace Bay went down, plants in White River and Hornepayne were really devastated because there was nowhere to send their wood chips,” Dumas said.
“Then they found a customer to send their chips to at a break-even and maybe even a bit of a loss. They’re now transporting those chips hundreds and hundreds of kilometres, where before their (Terrace Bay mill) customer was only 150 kilometres away.”
Dumas added that it will be no different at Kapuskasing.
“Here in northern Ontario, specifically, we need the raw wood from the sawmills to build the homes. So without the wood from the sawmill, the sawmill doesn’t have a place to deposit its chips, and that’s where the effect becomes really quickly multiplied, “ he said. “We need the mill to use the raw chips. Raw chips need to come from a sawmill. The sawmill needs to cut the wood to get to the houses built. It’s a whole circle.”
Although pulp is in less demand now than it was in the past, Dumas said there is still demand for the product and subsidies from the government are needed.
“I’m not saying government needs to come to the table and pay everything and run the mills, but it needs to help the forestry sector in general, and that would then definitely benefit the mills directly,” he said.
Dumas said governments can look at all opportunities to work with every sector, including the automobile, steel and aluminum sectors.
“But the forestry sector is our bread and butter in the Northwest,” he said. “It has a big, wide-ranging impact and closing the Kapuskasing mill will have wider-ranging impacts for a lot of mills that it supports.”
NOMA is joining FONOM in urging Ottawa to direct funding from the Build Canada Homes agency to stabilize facilities like Kapuskasing Paper. They want the government to address punitive U.S. duties and tariffs, and recognize Ontario’s forestry sector as a critical enabler of Canada’s housing strategy.
